Merriman Boxes his Way to Fitness by Jarrett Bell Friday, August 18, 2006
By Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY
SAN DIEGO —

Much can be learned from the manner in which a person handles success. Shawne Merriman burst onto the NFL scene last season like he had been there before, winning Defensive Rookie of the Year honors and becoming the first rookie outside linebacker to start in a Pro Bowl since the late Derrick Thomas in 1989. Then he punished himself.

The San Diego Chargers' terror of a pass-rusher, already a workout maniac, took up boxing and a related ring discipline, Muay Thai (Thai boxing), as part of an off season cross-training mission. What a scary thought for the blockers, passers and runners that await.

"Three minutes in the ring is one of the hardest things to do in the world," Merriman, 22, said during a camp break. "It's a full-body workout. It's not just the punching. You're moving around and your legs get tired. That's why a lot of boxers get knocked out."

Take it from a guy who was nicknamed "Light's Out" after knocking out four opponents with crushing hits during the first half of a football game in high school.

Merriman wasn't in the ring during the off season to perfect his knockout punch, although at 6-4, 272, he has an intimidating, heavyweight presence. The aim was to increase his endurance, develop better hand-eye coordination and to add explosion to his already-impressive 4.65 speed in the 40-yard dash. While not slighting normal football workouts, Merriman trained three times a week at The Boxing Club in La Jolla, Calif., under two-time world Muay Thai champion Mel Menor.

In Muay Thai, the fighters don't only punch — they use elbows, knees and kicks, too. Menor used conventional-boxing training methods such as sparring, the jump rope and speed bag, to work Merriman's upper body. That was complemented by Muay Thai regimens to strengthen the lower body.

Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer says Merriman's greatest quality is his pride.

Menor does not disagree. He says, "What I found out about Shawne was his willingness to continue, no matter how hard he was pushed. ... Football is a sport with bursts and breaks. Boxing is non-stop explosion. The elite boxers are the ones who are superbly conditioned."

Merriman, drafted 12th overall from Maryland last year, has a strong link to boxing. He is close to his uncle Henry "Sugar Poo" Buchanan, a rising light-heavyweight (14-0) based in Maryland.

Buchanan, who entered the ring for his July 28 bout wearing a No. 56 Merriman jersey, suggested that his nephew train like a boxer. Merriman thinks he is better for it, with a deeper reservoir of stamina.

"I don't think my endurance was really a problem last year," said Merriman, who led the Chargers with 10 sacks in 2005. His coming-out performance came in a December victory that ended the then-13-0 Indianapolis Colts' bid for a perfect season, when he was involved in three sacks of Peyton Manning and had three tackles for losses.

"But there's always a step higher that you can go. When you think you're in the best shape possible, look at yourself running around for three quarters, and look at your conditioning in the fourth quarter. Does it match where you were in the first quarter? If not, you're probably not in the best shape that you can be in."

Menor certainly tested this commitment. Merriman and his trainer both recall a particular marathon session that resulted in a breaking point.

"He'd work for a couple of weeks, then take off for a few days to go make some appearance somewhere or something," Menor said. "One time he came back with a news photographer. So I messed with him. I said, 'Are you really serious about this?' "

What followed was a solid hour of hard-core training, a virtual eternity in boxing time.

"He challenged me," Merriman remembers. "I was tired, exhausted, and I had to battle back with this little guy talking crap to me. I mean a little guy? It got under my skin."

Menor, who stands 5-7, laughs when told of Merriman's remarks.

"I got him good," he said. "I kept pushing until I finally made him scream, 'I give! I give!' I was trying to make him mad. But just to be on the safe side, I was backing away from him while I was talking trash."

Mel Menor and Shawne Merriman in San Diego Union Tribune
BY KEVIN ACEE, STAFF WRITER MERRIMAN'S GREATIST HITS

At 270 lbs, Shawn Meriman is trim and buff, having added 10 pounds of muscle while reducing fat. Mel Menor says of his workout pupil, Shawne Merriman: " He's got that drive, that passion. He knows what he's got to do. He gets pushed and he wants to push more." K.C. Alfred / Union-Tribune

- Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman was NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year last season. His numbers in 15 games: 54 TACKLES (41 solos, 13 assists) 10 SACKS, 5 PASSES DEFENSED, 2 FUMBLES FORCED

Drops of sweat, like rain, splatter on the canvas as a large man bobs and weaves and jabs. The man and his myriad of tattoos glisten in the afternoon light that shines through the window, while the much smaller man moves about calmly directing a session of torture that might at any moment produce more moisture in the form of tears.

" I have not got to push him to his limits yet," Mel Menor, the smaller man, will say later. " I haven't made him cry, because I don't want to be picked up and slammed to the ground."

Shawne Merriman, a freakish combination of muscles and ability by any measure, was 10 minutes into a workout at The Boxing Club, and it was both comical and agonizing to watch. Merriman did not have to be there, could have been so many other places, had so many other things to do, The NFL's 2005 Defensive Rookie of the Year has taken up boxing on his way to stardom. The Chargers linebacker is not interested in actually fighting, just in becoming a better football player.

" I can guarantee you 110 percent nobody in the league is doing this kind of workout," Merriman said. "It gets tough. You think you don't have it in you; you have to find a way to finish it." That particular day's Menor-inflicted hell began with Merriman jumping rope for three minutes. Menor then called Merriman out of the ring and had him punching at air while striding up and down the floor holding small weights. Immediately after that, Merriman dropped to do push-ups. Then it was back in the ring, pausing only to put on the boxing gloves. He spent the next several minutes moving in circles while punching mitts worn by Menor, a two-time Muay Thai Kickboxing world champion. By the time that first round was finished, Merriman's shirt resembled a wet rag.

Before the workout was complete, he would repeat that exercise with Menor three times. Between each round he did dozens of pushups and sit-ups, at one point reeling off 50 crunches while Menor stood on his stomach. "He's got that drive, got that passion," Menor said later. "He knows what he's got to do. He gets pushed and he wants to push more."

While the on-field outcome of this new regimen will have to wait, Merriman feels the results already. "I'm faster than I've ever been because I've cut so much body fat," he said. "I feel so much better. It's scary. I scare myself sometimes how I am." One look at Merriman reveals stunning progress. He has added 10 pounds of muscle while trimming body fat. The other day coach Marty Schottenheimer was shocked to find out Merriman was up to 270 pounds and promptly to his young star he did not look it. "It's different 270 this year than the 270 I was last year ," said Merriman.

Even as he held out of workouts last spring and summer, he said he would quickly earn his teammates' respect. He was speaking up in team meetings by midseason and was respected as a veteran by December. He said he was tough. During the season he played the final few downs of a game in November with a dislocated wrist and finished the season playing with a cast on his arm and bursitis in his knee. He said he would prove to be the best player taken in last year's draft and then went out and won the league's Defensive rookie of the Year award and made the Pro Bowl. Even speaking specifically, he turned out to be prophetic. Mired in a three game stretch without a sack, Merriman said before last season's game at Indianapolis that he had been watching extra film and working at more efficiently getting off blocks.

"You'll see a big difference Sunday," he said. That Sunday he sacked Peyton Manning twice, running over lineman a couple of times as if they were not there. He also forced Manning to intentionally ground the ball at a crucial point in the fourth quarter and ran the quarterback out of bounds on a fourth-and-goal. He finished the season leading the team in sacks and making it to the Pro Bowl-the fourth youngest ever to do so-despite missing the season opener with a knee injury, barely playing in the second game and not making the starting lineup until the seventh game.

He continues to stay busy with business ventures, television appearances and even a possible foray into acting. But just as his many off-the-field demands during the season had no adverse effect on his play, his off season schedule does not seem to have impeded his development. The Chargers brass has acknowledged there was concern, or at least an unknown and uneasy feeling, about Merriman's diverse interests last year. No more. It is clear he loves football and is dedicated to making himself he best.

" That?s what I love to do, " he said. "You have to remember what got you here. You can?t lose sight of your passion, your love. No matter how much money I make, how many cars I have, how many houses I buy or whatever else I do, football is No.1. I can't wait to turn it up this year."